Velma Little grew up with her sharecropping family in the Wayne, Purcell, Maysville area. She has lived here all of her 98 years, save the three years she spent living and working in Oklahoma City.
She had a hard childhood and spent her youth working in the fields and picking cotton.
When asked what her life was like before World War II Velma glanced out her living room window, pointed to the hillside and replied
“It was dragging a cotton sack up and down these roads.”
She was able to attend school but depended on others to share textbooks and supplies. Velma had a dear friend who would break her own pencils in half so Velma would have something to write with. Despite many challenges, Velma graduated from Maysville High School in 1943.
Duty called shortly after graduation, Velma and her childhood friend answered by moving to Oklahoma City to find work at Tinker Air Force Base. Velma found a job at the Douglas Plant and spent three years as a riveter building the tail piece for Douglas C-47 Skytrain Cargo Planes.
Velma and a co-worker would alternate being inside the tail with the bucking bar or on the outside of the tail drilling holes and putting the rivets through. They would switch back and forth throughout the day. Velma puffed up and said with a laugh, “Well yeah I was good at it!”
She motioned with her hand to demonstrate how it would fit perfectly up inside the tail to feel for the rivets and make sure they were set with the bucking bar.
Between early 1943 and 1945, more than 5,000 C-47’s were built at Tinker. Velma and her friends were personally responsible for that. The image of “Rosie the Riveter” is not one of imagination. These were real women who left home to fill jobs only done by men until that point in history. At the time those women were just doing what needed to be done. Looking back, it is clear how much of an impact they had on the war and the future. Velma said
“That is when women got their independence,” she said.
Velma also worked in the office part time. She did not care for that as much as working on the planes.
Working conditions inside the factory were less than ideal but Velma stated with a grin, “It wasn’t as hot as a cotton patch.”
Velma wasn’t scared of hard work, she had been working her whole life.
At the time, women typically made about half the wages of men for doing the same work. Still, Velma exclaimed, “I had never been paid to do anything ever so the money was the best part!”
She made .65 cents per hour working the midnight shift and sent much of her earnings home to help get her younger brothers through high school. She bought her mother a beautiful black dress for church one time. Velma said
“My mother was so proud of that dress.”
Her mother was proud of her for working in the city. Her father would have preferred for her to stay home cooking and washing dishes.
Velma was generous enough to send much of her earnings home to her family while she got by on a diet of pickles and butter. She and her friend worked all night, slept during the day and often went roller skating before they started another shift. She explained that there simply wasn’t much to do for entertainment but they sure had fun roller skating.
She didn’t have extra money to buy books or a newspaper to read. Because many things were rationed, there was no gas, tires, or sugar. She said, “People take for granted getting in a car to go somewhere today. We couldn’t do that.”
Velma remembers September 2, 1945. She was working her usual shift at night when the whistle blew and they announced over the speakers that the war had ended. Very abruptly, Velma was out of a job. She said, “It was so boring coming back to the country.”
Still, she came back to Wayne and awaited the return of her long-time boyfriend, Laurnce Little. They were married soon after he returned. Velma shared a darkness that enveloped the country when the men returned from the war.
“All the men were wrecked when they came home. Their minds were a mess and their bodies were destroyed.”
She used powerful words to describe a deep, largely ignored issue.
Her husband, Laurnce, contracted Malaria while serving in the Philippines and suffered from that along with the lingering side effects of war for the rest of his life. He slept outside for some time after returning home as he couldn’t stand the sound of a clock ticking.
Despite this, Laurnce and Velma enjoyed 47 years of marriage until his passing. They have four children, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren and counting.
Laurnce was an avid gardener. One season he grew so many cucumbers Velma snuck into the garden, pulled the cucumber plants up by the roots then shoved them back into the ground.
Velma giggled when she said, “He just couldn’t figure out why his cucumbers died that year.”
A healthy sense of humor certainly contributes to a long, enjoyable life.
Velma didn’t stop working entirely when the war was over. She was a popular beautician for 40 years.
“I fixed just about everybody’s hair in the whole community,” Velma commented.
Velma Little is a joy to her family and a treasure to this community. Her time as a real-life Rosie the Riveter during World War II was just one of many stories she could share. She survived The Dust Bowl, The Great Depression, and powered through World War II a true hero on the homefront. She was a trailblazer for women in the workforce and is an inspiration to all who have the pleasure to know her.
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